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An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operated by Yemen’s Ansar Allah rebel group (popularly known as the Houthis) has penetrated more than 120 km into Saudi airspace to film a desalination plant on the kingdom’s Red Sea coast.
The confirmation of the flight came in the form of aerial

Russia appears to be moving additional air and naval assets into Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean, giving its military commanders more options in the theatre.
A Project 636.3 ‘Kilo’-class diesel-electric submarine was seen transiting the Bosphorus form the Black Sea into the

The US Coast Guard (USCG) National Security Cutter Bertholf (WMSL-750) has finished patrols in the East China Sea to help enforce United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) intended to stop countries from avoiding North Korean sanctions through illegal ship-to-ship transfers.
The UNSCRs

The New York National Guard (NYNG) is teaming up with the Brazilian military under the umbrella of the US National Guard’s State Partnership Programme.
As part of the partnership, which was signed on 14 March, a NYNG “bilateral relations office will be assigned to the US Embassy in

European missile manufacturing consortium MBDA announced in its annual results that the firm’s order book had hit a record EUR17.4 billion (USD19.78 billion) following an absolute-terms increase of EUR600 million.
“This backlog is important as it provides us with important coverage and

European missile house MBDA completed the first firing trial of the Brimstone 3 precision strike missile at the Vidsel Test Range in Sweden last month, the company has disclosed.
Conducted in temperatures below -30°, the missile was surface launched against a pick-up truck target. MBDA said

The Philippines Department of National Defence (DND) has outlined a commitment to introduce additional reforms to improve the country’s military procurement processes.
The DND said the emphasis of new measures will be to enhance transparency and to enable acquisitions to be more responsive to

Singapore Technologies Engineering (ST Engineering) is positioning its Bronco 3 to address the potential emerging requirements of current Bv206 users, according to Dominic Phoon, vice-president and product director of the Programme Management Office.
The Bronco 3 was specifically designed for

On 31 March 2019, Ukraine will hold the first round of its presidential election, with 39 candidates running for the top office. With up to 15% of the 35.5 million voters effectively disenfranchised, the election is likely to favour candidates with strong nationalist platform and disadvantage

The Anzac-class frigates of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) are to have their service life extended by up to 10 years amid potential concerns about their future seaworthiness and capability.
According to a report on sustainment of the eight-ship class released on 18 March by the Australian National

The Australian Army in partnership with the Defence Innovation Hub has awarded SYPAQ an innovation contract to develop and demonstrate a next generation battlefield logistics small unmanned aircraft system (UAS).
The Australian Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 12 March that the Australian

On 19 March, after holding the presidency since 1990, Nursultan Nazarbayev announced his resignation effective 20 March.
Despite stepping down, Nursultan Nazarbayev is highly likely to retain decisive political influence in Kazakhstan in the one-year outlook. This retention of control is ensured by

The European Commission announced on 19 March how it will spend the remaining balance of EUR525 million (almost USD600 million) from its three-year pilot European Defence Fund (EDF) for co-financing defence capability and research projects with the member states.
Ranging from precision strike

The joint French/UK Future Cruise/Anti-Ship Weapon (FC/ASW) programme has successfully completed a milestone review intended to identify the most promising missile concepts and narrow down the list of potential technical solutions.
Work will now focus on further maturing the down-selected concepts

BAE Systems has begun integrating the next tranche of UK-specific weapons onto the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning combat aircraft.
The company announced on 18 March that it had been sub-contracted by Lockheed Martin to begin integrating the MBDA Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missile

The Swiss government has crystallised its plans for the future of defence firm RUAG, following a meeting of the country’s Federal Council.
Under plans submitted by RUAG and approved by the government, RUAG Holdings will be split into two organisations: MRO Switzerland and RUAG International.

Turkey has successfully vertically test fired missiles for the locally developed short-range Hisar-A surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, the Presidency of the Turkish Defence Industries (SSB) announced on 20 March.
“Hisar-A, during its first vertical firing test from a missile launching

Key Points
The US Air Force is emphasising more small business contracting
The service wants more cutting-edge technologies to start in the USAF
The US Air Force (USAF) is increasing its small business contracting to spur innovation and get cutting-edge technologies to the field faster.
The

With the proposed US Navy (USN) fiscal year 2020 (FY 2020) budget calling for a ramp-up in submarine funding, the service has awarded about USD2.5 billion in recent submarine programme contracts.
The largest deal is a USD2 billion contract modification awarded on 18 March to General Dynamics’